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I filmed our school walkout, What can the school do if I post it?

W

whw5

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 27, 2004
247
0
Atlanta
Hey guys. My entire highschool had a massive walkout for our janitor Bruce who was

forced to resign due to a payment issue that was not his fault. Thinking ahead, I

brought my video camera, taped the walkout in progress, and got interviews

afterward. An administrator saw me doing this and said, "if that tape gets out we are

going to prosecute you." Can they do that? I just want to post what happened. I

don't have anything slanderous in the video, just clippings from the newspapers,

videos and photos. The entire video was shot on school campus though, but as far as

I know, thats a public place. Any help on this would be great, becuase the whole

school wants to see my video, but I'd rather not get prosecuted.



Will
 
whw5 said:
An administrator saw me doing this and said, "if that tape gets out we are going to prosecute you." Can they do that?
Click to expand...


I doubt it — after all on what grounds? Bullying words...

Although they could possibly find other ways to make life difficult for you.
 
They don't have any legal backing for a statement like that. It's a public school, and you filmed on public property (as you noted) so that tape is completely legit. I say post it everywhere you can. Let as many people see it as possible. In fact, leave a copy in the administrator's mailbox.

jW
 
You'll be fine. They have no legal leg to stand on. And may I applaud you and your school for doing what's right? It's nice to hear about people trying to help each other instead of all the negativity that seems to be "in" these days.
 
Make sure you have more than 1 copy and ensure you can control who has these copies until you unleash the horde.

Also, any teachers who are a bit "leftfield" and not "on message", ask them for advice, a little bit of discent is always for the common good.
 
I'd do it if I were you, and I'd love to hear about the additional backlash --- backlash they can't afford to have right now --- if the school were to actually prosecute you for showing a video with interviews. There would be more negative publicity, possibly another walk-out. You're definitely allowed to show clips of what happened, along with interviews. It's your right.
 
Well maybe you are all right. But remember, you are in the new America now.
 
No, they cannot prosecute you.

Public property, public event.

BUT

If you do post it, make sure there is no monetary gain whatsoever in it for you or anyone else. If there is even a Google ad on your page, the people you taped (even though it was in a public place, so it is debatable as to what people's expectation for privacy) could sue you for not having a model release.

I would do some research, draft a letter to said teachers explaining what your rights are, and CC the board of education.

I wouldn't however, air the tape - yet.

Show them that you know your stuff, and your rights in a letter, and argue what you were told, showing them that they are wrong. If they give you more flap, consider airing it. If you have any questions about model release and stuff like that PM me - I'm not a lawyer, but have to tak ethis issue on with pictures all the time.

So - iGary's advice:

Send them a letter showing them your displeasure, and showing them that they are wrong, and concentrate on your schoolwork otherwise.

A good lesson in diplomacy, me thinks.
 
Thanks for the help and advice. iGary I respect your adult suggestions, however I can not wait to post this. I'm posting it on youtube, and as soon as its done, I'll put the link up. If administration has a problem they can come to me. What I'm doing is completely legal so I don't have to make excuses or talk to them about it. Wish me luck!

Will
 
They cannot prosecute you (successfully, anyway; there's nothing to stop them trying) but they can make life difficult for you in other ways.

The upshot is if they do that you could sue them.
 
Instead of asking people on here that have no clue about the law (including myself), I would contact a lawyer that specializes in school rights issues.

Schools have more rights than other institutions because many courts consider them to be your guardian while you are on school property.
 
You may get in trouble for the music that you are using and the Bruce Almighty graphic.

I do commend the students for walking out for this custodian. That was a great gesture on the part of the students and even if there are consequences that you'll have to face, you guys did the right thing.
 
oops I forgot that you are only allowed to use 30seconds of a song. Im not making any money off it though.
 
i might be willing to host that if you'd like. i only have something like 10gb of bandwidth though, so i don't know how much it'd get hammered.

that's really great that y'all did that--standing up for a good cause. of course if we tried that at my school we'd have the cops on us in 30sec...:rolleyes:
 
No rule against videocamera, ipods cell phones etc. I origionaly brought my camera for video yearbook but then realized that the school would never allow the footage to be shown. If school is public property then I am ok. On any public property you are allowed to film, but you have to get permision from everyone involved if you want to sell your work.
 
whw5 said:
No rule against videocamera, ipods cell phones etc. I origionaly brought my camera for video yearbook but then realized that the school would never allow the footage to be shown. If school is public property then I am ok. On any public property you are allowed to film, but you have to get permision from everyone involved if you want to sell your work.
Click to expand...

OK - but get this.

The site you have it posted on is making money from us - other people - viewing your video - from the advertisements there. It's not totally for "news" or "editorial" purposes. In fact, a judge might say you posted it for amusement.

Just be careful. I hate to sound like a crank, but you aren't indestructable. ;)
 
Just a warning here... to be sure that you know the entire story.

There may be reasons why this guy was fired that you know nothing about. If that's the case, then you're more likely to end up with trouble than if the guy was forced to resign having done nothing wrong.
 
whw5 said:
well here is the video if anyone is interested...... http://www.youtube.com/w/Bring-Back-Bruce?v=HbrRDGgg0zk
Click to expand...

Cool video. I'd suggest redoing the initial bruce screen and replacing the music with some public domain or license free track (there is masses available on the net, I'm sure you could find something suitable). I don't know about the 30s rule but if that is the case, you could include 29s of the existing soundtrack an an appropriate point.

Once you have done this, I'd suggest trying to fid an appropriate place to host it (not youtube), submitting a digg story and then posting the digg link here.

Once the digg story is on their front page, call a couple of local papers and TV studios and let them know what is going on ;)

Best of luck,
 
mdavey said:
Cool video. I'd suggest redoing the initial bruce screen and replacing the music with some public domain or license free track (there is masses available on the net, I'm sure you could find something suitable). I don't know about the 30s rule but if that is the case, you could include 29s of the existing soundtrack an an appropriate point.

Once you have done this, I'd suggest trying to fid an appropriate place to host it (not youtube), submitting a digg story and then posting the digg link here.

Once the digg story is on their front page, call a couple of local papers and TV studios and let them know what is going on ;)

Best of luck,
Click to expand...
it just occured to me--couldn't he just upload it pretty much anywhere and coral cache it, eliminating bandwidth concerns? (wrt an appropriate place)
 
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